Bear makes itself comfortable up a tree in Hartford

A small and likely juvenile bear was making waves in the West End of Hartford Thursday as it gazed upon onlookers from a high branch in a tree.

The small bear was seen in a tree on Farmington Avenue, in the area across the street from the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and the Mark Twain House.

There are 1,000 to 1,200 bears in Connecticut; they have been seen in every town and city.

A Hartford resident said, “Some neighbors noticed around 1:30, and some of our staff went out to see.

“He was in a very tall tree right near the Immanuel Congregational Church on Farmington Avenue. He seemed a little sleepy and itchy,” the resident said.

According to “The State of the Bears,” a state publication, downloadable online, in the last three years, females with offspring have been seen in 117 towns, 80 in just 2023.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

Hartford police spokesman Lt. Aaron Boisvert said, “Bears live in CT.”

Meanwhile, DEEP notes online that, “black bears are increasingly common in Connecticut.

“Reports of bear sightings, even in heavily populated residential areas, are on the rise,” DEEP notes. “The Wildlife Division has also seen an increase in the number of reported problems with black bears. All residents should take time to make themselves ‘Bear Aware’ and learn about best practices to both reduce the likelihood of an encounter with a bear and know what to do in the event of an encounter.”

Humans have had negative interactions with bears in Connecticut over the last several years, including a 74-year-old woman who was walking her dog on a leash in Avon in April 2023 was bitten by a black bear, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The agency said at the time that, as public safety is its “top priority”, under the Black Bear Response protocol, “an attack on a human is a category 4 response, meaning humane euthanization of the bear.”

Then, in May, a bear charged an Avon bakery worker in a frightening incident and binged on 60 cupcakes.

Connecticut passed a law that went into effect in October, and according to DEEP allows people to request permits to take bears when bears “are damaging agricultural crops, livestock, or apiaries, and non-lethal responses are unreasonable or ineffective; bans the intentional feeding of potentially dangerous animals (including bears); and establishes the right to use deadly force to defend oneself, other people, and one’s pets if attacked, in certain circumstances.”

The law does not allow bear hunting and it places strict requirement on killing a bear in self-defense or defense of another person or person. It bans intentional feeding of potentially dangerous wildlife; composting is not considered feeding wildlife.